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First up I wash my hair. Today I used Herbal Essence shampoo and conditioner for dry hair. Nothing fancy or specialist, just what I had in the bathroom.

Personally I don’t think it matters so much what shampoo and conditioner you use so long as it’s for your hair type, mine being dry.

The night before washing I tend to douse my hair in any kind of oil - avocado, almond, castor, olive etc. The reason for this is so that when I apply shampoo the next day the shampoo doesn’t strip all my natural oils out, instead it takes off the oil I applied and therefore stops my hair becoming too dry.

With shampoo I use a very small amount and put the majority of it on the roots and scalp. The rest will coat my hair when I rinse anyway.

I use a lot of conditioner. No not a dime size amount. Come to think of it, I have no idea how big a dime is. I probably use a dinner plate sized amount. I’m not even kidding.

I tend to leave conditioner on for five minutes after I’ve combed it through with my Denman brush. Yes that’s right I detangle with a brush when my hair is wet. Shock horror. I know this is an afro hair faux pas for many people but it works for me. In fact trying to detangle my hair when it’s dry causes far more breakage and damage.

After rinsing I then give it a good squeeze and put it in a towel turban. No I don’t dry my hair with a t-shirt before you ask. I understand the logic but my hair would take forever to dry if I used cotton and not towel. Again, you have to do what works for you.

I then section my hair in four and apply the Cantu leave-in shea butter repair conditioner, brushing it through each section with my brush. Again, plate sized not dime sized people. Saturate your head in the good stuff.

Now this next bit is what makes this a 2 hour 15 minute process rather than just a 15 minute process… I leave my hair to air dry for two hours.

The reason for this is to avoid too much heat damage. My hair holds water very well. A bit like a sponge; you think it’s dry but it’s soaking inside. So if I were to use a hairdryer straight away I would be blasting it with heat for at least an hour.

Instead, by allowing it to air dry, I only have to subject my precious follicles to 15 minutes of heat which I think is a good compromise.

I use the hottest and fastest setting on my dryer so I’m not prolonging the agony anti-heat squad. I focus the dryer on the wet areas which tend to be my roots. I grab sections of my hair and pull them taut whilst drying to get some length back to my shrunken wet hair. I also turn my head upside down and dry it some more to gain volume.